Reading a textbook isn’t the only way students learn. They learn a lot, without even realizing it, when they’re actively engaged in fun activities with other students that make them feel empowered. There are tons of glass board activities to choose from for all different learning styles. Best of all, most are adaptable for different subjects and grade levels. With empowerED glass boards, teaching is made easy.
Here are 10 glass board activities guaranteed to interject more fun into your classroom while your students learn! These activities are easily tailored to hybrid teaching as well.
This is a great educational game for a teacher to use to engage an entire classroom of young students while they practice basic letter recognition. It works like this. A teacher sets up a magnetic dry erase board with magnetic tiles featuring a letter. Then the teacher draws a letter on the glass board. Students, either individually or in teams, work to match all the tiles. The first student or team to match all the tiles wins.
This interactive glass board activity helps students practice their drawing skills while creating a team-effort drawing. The game rules are simple. Each student adds a new component to the drawing, but they can’t erase anything another student has added. Of course, teachers will want to provide a time limit on how long each student can be at the glass board. When the drawing is complete, and all students have participated in the interactive glass board game, they can discuss what they ended up with. It’s a fun learning activity for different grade levels.
Hangman is a classic game to play in the classroom on a glass board. It’s simple and easy. Use it to teach grade school students to learn spelling words or help kids and adults learn a second language.
For example, for a spelling lesson, draw short lines in a row, with each line representing a blank letter. Then students will try to guess the corresponding letter for each line. Teachers can also up the ante and have each line represent a word. Students have to guess the words that create a phrase or a movie or book title.
Students typically don’t want to be in the hot seat, but they won’t mind when the classroom is participating in this competitive interactive glass board game. Here’s how it works: Divide the class into two teams and place two students at the front of the room with their backs to the glass board. The teacher writes a vocabulary word, phrase, movie, book title, concept, or important date on the board, giving the teams time to clarify and discuss the word with each other. Each team has one minute to describe the word, without naming it, to their teammate in the hot seat. Any time a student in the hot seat guesses correctly, the team gets a point and a new student from each team is selected to sit in the hot seat for the next round.
Jeopardy is a very adaptable learning game because it can be used for many different lesson plans. Many students will already know how to play because they’ve seen it on TV. All the teacher needs to do is change out the questions and categories! To prepare for the game, make a list of 25 questions applicable to five different categories and assign a different point value to each question within a category. On the glass board, place the categories across the top, each in a separate column. Within each category, place the point amounts for that question.
Then divide the class into several different groups and let the learning begin! Each group, in turn, will select a category and a point value – “We’ll take American History for 50 points.” The teacher reads the corresponding question and gives the team 30 seconds to confirm a response – in the form of a question. If students respond correctly, they win that number of points. If their response is not correct, the square remains open and can be played again.
Play can last until the last question is answered or until the timer goes off. The team with the most points wins.
This interactive glass board activity is more advanced than some. It engages students and keeps them on their toes! To play, divide the class into small groups and assign a topic. For a geography lesson, the topic could be “countries.” For a history lesson, it could be “U. S. presidents.” The first student writes a word on the glass board within that category. Any word. The next student has to write a word that works for the category, but his or her word must start with the last letter of the word written by the first student. So, for example, in the U.S. presidents’ category, Obama as the first word could lead to Arthur, which could lead to Roosevelt.
This educational game can the modified to fit most any grade level and lesson plan. First, draw a line down the middle of the glass board. Then place the name of each team at the top of each column. For example, for a math lesson, the instructor may give both players a card with a problem to solve at the board. Once a player is finished, he or she passes the marker to a teammate. The team that finishes first, with the most correct answers, wins.
This is great fun for students who like to draw! The teacher gives one student a specific item or the student picks an item from a bowl. Then he or she goes to the glass board and draws it while the other students in the classroom try to guess what it is. The student that guesses correctly collects a point and gets to draw the next picture. Shampoo, rinse, repeat! For younger students, the teacher can do the drawing while all the students guess.
Vocabulary words can be confusing and difficult for kids to master. Especially homophones – words that are pronounced the same but are spelled differently, (two, too, and to or they’re, their, and there) or have different meanings (heir and air or fair and fare). To play this vocabulary game, the teacher writes a series of word choices all over the board. Students divide into two teams. Then the teacher reads a sentence, and the first two students from each group rush to the board to circle the correct vocabulary word. Whoever circles the correct word first gets the points.
The race is on in this fast-paced game, which individual students or teams can play. For individual play, a student will race to the glass board to write down the complete answer to the teacher’s question or cue. For team play, you can play it like a relay race in which each student in the team writes only one letter or word, then races back to the team to pass the marker to the next person in line. Either way, it’s a fun way to test students’ proficiency in math, English, spelling, or vocabulary words.
